2013-14 television renewal and cancellation

ABC

The leading ladies of ABC certainly have lots of reasons to celebrate. Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) and her crisis management firm OPA will be back for a fourth season of Scandal, country singers Rayna James (Connie Britton) and Juliette Barnes (Hayden Panettiere) of Nashville will sing for us once more in season three, Emily Thorne (Emily VanCamp) and Victoria Grayson (Madeleine Stowe) will return to battle it out once more in the deliciously trashy Revenge, going into its fourth season now, Storybrooke and its residents, namely Emma Swan (Jennifer Morrison), Mary Margaret (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Regina (Lana Parrilla), have yet another magical curse to face off against, when Once Upon a Time returns for a fourth season, and going into its impressive eleventh season is Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) and her merry band of horny doctors working in the wildly promiscuous work environment of Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital in ABC’s long-running hit, Grey’s Anatomy.

Also renewed, is the high-rated sitcom Modern Family (not surprising, given it’s already won back-to-back best comedy series awards at the Emmys four years in a row), Resurrection, ABC’s breakout freshman show that gave the network some decent numbers on Sundays, plus superhero drama Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., that didn’t turn out as amazing as people had originally hoped.

Bad news for some comedy shows that faced the axe, Rebel Wilson couldn’t quite work her magic on television with Super Fun Night, whereas Trophy Wife, Mixology, _Back in the Game _were all booted off too. Soapy thriller Betrayal which hoped to gain some lead-in audience on Sundays from Revenge never caught on, the awful Killer Women got canned after just six episodes posting terrible ratings, The Assets, Mind Games, and Lucky 7 also faced the chop. Once Upon a Time’s spin-off show, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland is also missing out on a second season, though the show’s star Michael Socha is set to join the original show in its new season.

## CBS

Crime procedurals are still going as strong as ever over in CBS, with a long list of renewals for CSI (season 15!), NCIS (season 12!), Criminal Minds (season 10!), NCIS: Los Angeles (season 6) (in fact, the NCIS series is so damn successful they’re doing another spin-off, NCIS: New Orleans), Person of Interest (season 4), _The Mentalist _(season 7), Hawaii Five-0 (season 5), _Elementary _(season 3), and Blue Bloods (season 5). The Good Wife is also getting a sixth season (hurrah!) which is no doubt the best news this network could have offered. CBS has certainly done incredibly well in its long-running shows, picking a fresh genre of episodic shows for its audience to enjoy.

Number 1 comedy The Big Bang Theory was renewed for not one, but three more seasons, because the show is really doing that well. Even without Charlie Sheen, there is no stopping Two and a Half Men, as it would appear Ashton Kutcher is a good enough replacement for the controversial star. The show is going into its 12th season now. Freshman comedies Mom, starring the excellent duo of Allison Janney and Anna Faris, and The Millers will return for sophomore seasons. Kat Dennings and Beth Behrs will keep up with their baking, as _2 Broke Girls _was renewed for a fourth season, with Melissa McCarthy and Billy Gardell returning as the plus-sized, adorable couple Mike & Molly.

Cancelled is the good but uneven and ever-so slightly wordy and over-the-top The Crazy Ones, which was led by the great Robin Williams, comedies_ Bad Teacher_ (based on the film of the same name), We Are Men and Friends with Better Lives, along with thrillers Hostages (better left alone as a stand-alone season, so this cancellation is great news) and Intelligence.

## the CW

Teen channel the CW has successfully tapped into what teenage girls like most these days: good looking dudes, the supernatural, and mainly, vampires. And so the shows the tick these boxes have given their worthy renewals. The Winchester brothers (Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki) will live to fight demons once again in Supernatural’s tenth season, Salvatore vampire brothers Stefan (Paul Wesley) and Damon (Ian Somerhalder) will continue to pine for Elena’s (Nina Dobrev) affection in The Vampire Diaries’ sixth season, the show’s spin-off The Originals, focusing on “original vampires” (whatever the hell that means) is getting a second season, and a modern retelling of the story Beauty and the Beast will return in a reduced episode capacity (13, instead of the usual 20+), for what will presumably be the show’s final season.

Two freshman shows are set to return; the surprisingly good Reign, a reimagined tale of Mary Queen of Scots, in which good-looking people breaking up has more consequences than merely broken hearts, as kingdoms and lives hang in the balance. The 100, which tasks 100 juvenile delinquents to possibly repopulate Earth after a nuclear war destroyed the planet 97 years prior to the show’s events, is deservingly on the network’s renewal list.

Popular superhero Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) and his show _Arrow _is set for season 3, although the happy news could not be shared for Amell’s cousin, Robbie Amell, whose show The Tomorrow People, which was arguably more interesting than Arrow, was cancelled after just one season.

Star-Crossed, which tried too hard to be a clever analogy for modern society and politics, and then failed miserably, will not get a follow-up season, and the network’s spectacularly bad idea of adapting Sex and the City as some sort of a prequel with The Carrie Diaries, is finally getting the axe after two seasons.

## FOX

Not a huge batch of drama shows to marvel at. Sleepy Hollow will return for a second season, the network is refusing to put The Following out of its misery, giving the show an ill-advised third season (the Joe Carroll madness has gone on long enough), long-running procedural Bones will return for its tenth season, as will _Glee, _a show that is getting progressively worse, for its sixth and final (thank god) season.

FOX is known for its successes with its long-running animated shows. The Simpsons will be entering its astonishing season 26, whereas Family Guy is set to debut its thirteenth season in autumn 2014.

On the comedy front, the network has done better. Golden Globe winning cop comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine has been renewed for a second season, Zooey Deschanel and her quirky sitcom New Girl is set to return for its fourth season, and Mindy Kalig, the hyperactive mess of an OBGYN who is entertaining to watch, will be back for The Mindy Project in its third season.

Not coming back for the next television year is the well-reviewed but under-watched military sitcom _Enlisted _which debuted at an awful Friday night slot, as well as the controversial Dads which was heavily criticised for its content. Greg Kinnear’s comedy vehicle Rake hit the lowest of the low viewing figures towards the end of its thirteen-episode run, which explains why FOX decided to dump it. Also canned are _Surviving Jack _and Raising Hope the latter of which had a good run (four seasons) and really showed off the comic potential of Garret Dillahunt and Martha Plimpton.

## NBC

Although posting some dismal numbers as of late, NBC certainly hit the jackpot with The Voice, pairing the reality show on Monday nights with its excellent new drama, without doubt the best new series of the 2013/14 season, The Blacklist, starring the formidable James Spader. Consistently delivering strong ratings, it came as no surprise when NBC decided to give this show a second season.

NBC is trying to recreate the franchise success of Law & Order with its _Chicago _series and at the moment they have Chicago Fire and Chicago P.D. going into the third and second seasons respectively.

The darkly chilling, potent thriller Hannibal will be back for season 3, starring Mads Mikkelsen in the titular serial-killing cannibal role, with Hugh Dancy trying to lock him up. NBC’s answer to ABC’s Once Upon a Time, _Grimm _is returning for season 4. Comedy shows Parenthood and Parks and Recreation have both been renewed for their final seasons, so a tearful farewell to those excellent sitcoms.

A long list of shows getting cancelled over at NBC. Michael J. Fox’s return to television didn’t attract much audience with The Michael J. Fox Show, nor was anyone really interested in Sean Hayes’ Sean Saves the World, Jonathan Rhys Meyers’ comeback role as the title character in Dracula was met with lukewarm reception, and it would seem the name J. J. Abrams is no longer working its magic on the television screen, as Revolution and Believe, both executive produced by Abrams, were given the axe. Crisis, an absurd thriller starring Dermot Mulroney and Gillian Anderson has also been cut.